Pay rise: The NUT'S Christine Blower is leading a strike over pension reforms

A militant union boss bidding to cripple Britain's schools next week has quietly pocketed a 10 per cent pay rise.

Christine Blower, the leader of the National Union of Teachers, was accused of 'breathtaking insensitivity' for taking the inflation-busting rise while tens of thousands of her own members brace themselves for a pay freeze.

Miss Blower, 59, is leading a strike which aims to cripple Britain’s 23,000 state schools next week as part of the growing wave of public sector militancy over pension reforms.

Millions of children will be affected by the June 30 walkout and many parents will have to take a day off or pay for extra childcare.

Miss Blower's basic pay rose by almost £9,000 to £103,000, while her package of pay and benefits increased by more than £13,000 to £140,000 – up 10.4 per cent.

The increase is more than double the rate of inflation and four times the 2.3 per cent received by classroom teachers last year.

The NUT's accounts also reveal that union members funded a 16 per cent increase in contributions to Miss Blower's gold-plated pension last year. The union paid £26,000 into her pension pot – 25 per cent of her salary, and four times the typical level in the private sector.

Tory MP Nicholas Boles last night condemned the pay rise at a time of austerity.

Lessons: Millions of children will be affected by the June 30 walkout and many parents will have to take a day off or pay for extra childcare

He said: 'The salaries of union officials are for members to decide but it would appear to show fairly breathtaking insensitivity to take a pay rise on this scale when public sector workers are experiencing a pay freeze.'

Fellow Tory Harriett Baldwin said: 'It is astonishing that at a time when most teachers are having to exercise pay restraint the leader of their union is taking a 10 per cent pay rise.

'It will add to concern over the policy of sabre-rattling and strikes while negotiations are ongoing.'

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A spokesman said pay rises had otherwise been pegged to the 2.3 per cent received by teachers.

The spokesman added: 'Posts are allocated to a band based on the score for the job achieved in a periodic job evaluation process.

'All salaries, including that of the General Secretary, increase based on movement up the spinal points in the band according to the length of service. In addition the salaries at each spinal point within the scale are increased by the same percentage that is agreed for teachers.'

Outrage: Tory MP Nicholas Boles branded the rise 'insensitive'

Miss Blower's extraordinary salary increase puts the spotlight on the fat cat pay deals enjoyed by many of the union barons behind the current wave of strikes.

Mark Serwotka, the hard-Left general secretary of the Public and Commercial Services Union, has pocketed a £3,000 pay rise. The 2.8 per cent increase takes his basic pay to almost £89,000 and his overall package to just under £125,000.

Mr Serwotka seized the union leadership in 2000 with a campaign pledge not to accept more than an average member's wage. Officials claim union rules prevent him keeping the pledge.

A key player in co-ordinating strike action by 750,000 public sector workers on June 30, Mr Serwotka yesterday admitted the strike was 'highly political' – and warned that industrial action could continue for four years.

Mary Bousted, head of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, had a basic salary of £108,300 in 2009 and a total package worth £148,536. The union has not yet published its accounts for last year.

The most recently available figures show that Dave Prentis, general secretary of Unison, who this week called for a wave of strikes 'without precedent', enjoys an overall package of pay and benefits worth £142,312.